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pally dip in magus build?

Hello all,

was wondering if a paladin dip would be better than a pure magus (eldritch scion) path,

so far I've seen on forum to go 2lvl pally dip, which would put me at 18lvl magus. I know magus can't go higher than level 6 spells, do I lose access to those 6 level spells if I'm only 18 magus? is pure magus better?

I've done it, and it's loads of fun, even went dragon disciple. That huge boost to your saves and a single smite evil makes the dip worth it. You get level 6 spells at magus level 16, so it's possible to get them. Unless you're setting the game so only active party members get xp and skill check user gets all the xp, you're probably only looking at level 17, maybe 18. If you're going to do skill check user gets the xp, play up that charisma and max out your persuasion so you can grab up a ton of xp on your main.

so 2 level paladin dip and carry on for magus? DD is for AC boost and STR boost? can I get crane wing stance if I directly go for DD or do I have to go monk as well?

Honestly I don't think I would dip for more than 2 level outside of magus, I want the late summon elemental that my bloodline gives, it looks pretty dope (starts out with 1d6 small elemental, 1d4 medium elemental, 1d3 large elemental, then 1 great elemental. each summon is separated by a couple rounds, so for a wave situation i.e. curse quests, it looks fun)

I'm not worrying for xp, I'm running a mode that gives me 150% xp boost. all the PnP games I've been running were set on ''hard mode'' for the tradeoff of 50% bonus xp, so it felt wrong to play a roleplaying game without my bonus xp :p did not regret that when I encountered 3 enraged owlbear that ripped my party appart regardless... those random encounters are really nasty, no time to prepare any buffs and can't even flee.

Ya, if you go Dragon Disciple it's more about strength and armor bonuses, wings, plus being able to turn into a dragon. You do give up some caster levels, since DD doesn't give you caster levels on every level. Sounds like you're set on a bloodline anyways, so just go for that. Pretty sure you need monk levels to get crane wing. When I did the magus/paladin, I started with 1 level in magus, just so I could have some spells, then did a couple Paladin levels, and back to Magus. It really doesn't matter immensely the order you pick your levels outside of the first few hours of the game anyways. If you stick with Magus instead of going dragon disciple, you can wear medium armor at magus level 7, too.

Simple "Unarmed Strike" doesn't exist. So, it's either two feats and get BAB +2 before taking Crane Style (the tree is not too long, 3 Feats total, Crane Style + Crane Wing + Crane Riposte)
Or one Monk level and then take the three Crane Feats. when you have enough Monk levels (5 and 7), or enough BAB (, +2, +5 and +8).

However, I am disappointed with how Crane Riposte works. It says you must use a weapon one-handed t obe able to use the Feat, and the game automatically assumes you take your weapon two-handed if it's not a light weapon. No work-around at this time, so in my case, I cannot use Crane Riposte since I use non-light weapons and had already invested in Weapon Focus and Improved Critcal. So, important info.

That said, I think the Feats are really worth it if you want a defensive-minded melee character. Combined with Combat Expertise, your drop in Attack bonus is not so bad compared to the bonus in AC.

I wonder if crane riposte would work with with spell combat? Last time I played around with it, when you turned it on, you'd wield one handed and turning it off switched you to 2 handed. I suppose it shouldn't work with it, since it's supposed to be like dual wielding where you're using your offhand for casting, but it might not be implemented that way.